Moreover, seven players went ahead of the main party to familiarize themselves with the current conditions in Australia. They included the batting maestros

, VVS Laxman and

. Along with them went another five budding young cricketers – all first timers who want to get a feel of the life in Australia. They are

, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha. Each of them can be a handful for the home team.

Indians are injury prone –they try to maintain their energy levels by playing games other than cricket (like football or volleyball) in their off time and then repent the decision as they nurse injuries to the ankles or the wrists – the two most important limbs as far as the game of cricket is concerned. Let us hope injuries do not let the Indians down.

Anyway, the Indian team has a fairly good mix of veterans and newbies – thanks to the increase in the number of games of the shorter versions such as the ODIs and T-20s, fielding has improved and the young ones can throw and fling themselves at the ball just as well as the Australians.  Only there has to be better understanding in the running between the wickets. As experts say – steal the singles; convert the singles into twos, and the twos into threes. These small tactics can help to win games.